Wine with Leslie: Local off-licences increasingly looking at terroir in wine choices
Pic: iStock
Terroir - the wine geek’s favourite word. It helps that it doesn’t have a direct English translation and we can use our best French accents, long honed by learning obscure wine regions such as Irouléguy (Pyrenees), Auxey-Duresses (Burgundy) and Quincy (Loire).
Terroir could be defined as ‘a sense of place’ and can include the soil, the microclimate, the grape varieties, the pruning method, the vigneron and the wild yeasts.
A Sauvignon from Sancerre does indeed taste different from Pouilly Fuissé despite the vineyards facing each other across the River Loire.
Pommard tastes different to next door Volnay (the soils are lighter in Volnay), and Margaux to Pauillac (or should at least, it depends on the producer).
The French Appellation d’Origine system for food is also based on terroir which gives us five different Loire goat cheeses and protection of everything from chickens (Bresse) to lentils (du Puy).
We are not as good at rules in Ireland but we do terroir too - Flaggy Shore oysters versus Harty's of Dungarvan, Wexford new potatoes from Kilmore or Carne, (a choice I was faced with recently when visiting Wexford for an outside broadcast of Movies and Booze for the Moncrieff show (Fridays between 3 and 4pm, do listen in!).
All my wines this week are from recognisable terroirs, and available in a new wine outlet which is also a terroir-focused butcher shop - Fitzgerald's in Fermoy finish all their beef and lamb on the family farm in the heart of the Golden Vale, and take great care when slaughtering to make the animals as undistressed as possible (the meat is then dry-aged in a Himalayan salt chamber).
Terroir includes people after all and family producers and shops like Fitzgeralds deserve our support, as do the other wine shops below like O’Driscolls, Matsons and McHughs.
This would go nicely with some barbecued or slow cooked lamb from Fitzgeralds.
Dão is just south of the Douro and this is a blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo) and Jaen (Mencía) — bright and juicy and packed with cherry fruits, balanced acidity and a touch of structure. Great value!
Don’t say you don’t like Chardonnay — you like Puligny Montrachet and Champagne don’t you!?
This has a touch of barrique ageing but it does not overwhelm just provides a touch of vanilla and ripe melon.
Fruit-focused, textured and substantial with lingering pear fruits and fine balance and complexity.
Lots of choice in Fitzgeralds for wines to match their beef and lamb as you would expect - I was torn between this Rioja and Ch. Patache d’Aux 2016 Médoc (€25) as my pick.
Aromas of vanilla and dark fruits, fruity, bright and ripe with spice touches, mouth-filling and long.
The Crianza is good too! (€20)
Wicklow Wolf are the kind of brewery you want within walking distance of your house, with a tap room and pizza truck, a hop farm and hop garden and a focus on sustainability with solar panels reducing electricity consumption by 30%.
‘Sugarloaf’ is part of the 2024 core range, a hazy pale gold colour with aromas of tropical fruits and citrus, creamy textures, fruity and full flavoured and lots and lots of hops. Perfect for summer!
